Hello again
constant reader. It’s been a while. Sorry. I’ve missed you. I hope the feeling’s
mutual. There have been a few things going on.
When I last
wrote to you about Books and Reading, I had begun to talk on how my interest in
reading had been stoked further by discovering popular music and the likes of
Elton John, Bachman-Turner Overdrive and Billy Joel. But I almost missed what
now appears to be an important juncture in my Books and Reading world as my
first memorable experience in the world of writing. I was reminded of this
recently through the privilege I had of speaking to a number of students on a couple
of occasions about writing. I was asked whether I could remember the first
story I’d written. The answer filled a gap I’d all but forgotten but is
important to my Books and Reading.
I was in Grade 6. From my
previous posts on Books and Reading, you know I was already a reader. This story
takes place very likely around the time of the many Max Brand and Zane Grey
westerns I was reading. I’d pulled a book entitled Kon-Tiki:
The Greatest Sea Adventure of our Time from my father’s bookshelf. My guess now is
this was likely before my foray into the more adult Serpico from my last writing.
The
Kon-Tiki expedition was named after the Inca sun god. Norwegian explorer and
adventurer Thor Heyerdahl became fascinated and then obsessed with the idea
that the Peruvian people were the first to settle the Polynesian Islands. A
reasonable conclusion considering some of the artifacts found on the islands. But
one would have to ignore the fact that thousands of miles of South Pacific Ocean
lie between the coast of Peru and the islands and that boats, never mind ships,
had yet to be invented. That considered; Mr. Heyerdahl believed that rafts made
of balsa reeds tied together could be built and by following the strong ocean
currents could make the journey successfully. He assembled a team only to find
the challenge of raising funds for the trip near impossible. Even the National
Geographic known for it’s funding of incredible expeditions was quoted to have
said, “we fund expeditions, not suicide missions”. The seemingly impossible
journey very nearly cost Heyerdahl and his team their lives, but after 101
days, they finally made land fall. Heyerdahl and crew soon after became world
famous with the publication of the international bestselling book and a
documentary filmed during the voyage that won an Oscar in 1951.
As
a young boy, the story captured my imagination enough to write the first story
I remember being proud of. The thought of taking a raft across the open sea,
fishing for food, circling sharks, giant waves and countless moments of
disaster seemed to flow from my pen and onto the blank page in front of me. The
teacher read it in class and posted it on the wall for all to see. I was
beside myself with pride.
I
would like to say in retrospect that this was the beginning of a long,
successful literary career but the truth has a lot of meandering and really didn’t
start until several years later, much more in concert with my music discoveries
than reading. There would be no going back as you’ll see in Part Four of Books
and Reading.
